The Barber’s Grill Bar and Restaurant in Jaro was a popular weekend hangout flocked by lots of Ilonggos as a place to chill, from students, to yuppies, to people just wanting to have a good time without leaving the city.
Jose Alfonso Altamira, the place’s current proprietor, said that they took on a lot of gimmicks to make sure they stayed afloat. They offered the usual take-out and dine-in meals in the daytime, then resorted to selling fresh vegetables and fish, as well as soaps and shampoo. Barber’s Grounds Coffee’s new business model, according to Altamira, was centered on “the feeling where people would feel that they would have their money’s worth.”
Finally reopening last March 8, 2021, the name wasn’t completely changed as an ode to the place’s humble beginnings. “We had staff as many as 20 before, and now we are down to 5 people, which are also the same people from when we were a grill restaurant. They used to be waiters and now they’re baristas. They’ve adopted to changing times, from waiting, to selling bangus and vegetables, and now the café. We’ve managed to stay because we have people who care for the business as much as we do,” he said.